Women vs Men: Battle of the Bodies

In the eighteenth century much of our medical understanding was founded on the knowledge of the Ancients. The Hippocratic doctrine of the four humors was its basis, and it attempted to explain the differences between men and women through them. For example it was believed that women and children suffered more from cold and moist humours than men (phlegm), leading to them having naturally weaker and less controlled bodies and minds.



The Four Humors

As society changed in England during the eighteenth century the role of women began to be questioned. Were women different because of nature or nurture? Feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft argued strongly that a lack of decent education for women, as well as social opportunities, were the causes of gender inequalities. Unsurprisingly however the male orientated world of science (or natural philosophy as it was called) generally argued the opposite. With new branches of anatomy and physiology, thanks to more opportunities for dissection, men directed their studies at trying to understand what made women so fundamentally different through studying the human body. It was important to them to try and establish exactly where women fitted in and why, and the skeleton was seen as the way to do this.

Before about 1750 the human skeleton was almost thought of as asexual, with gender differences only being apparent in reproductive organs and the exterior body. (Yet this in itself was still enough to prove some sort of gender superiority, as women's reproductive organs were seen as inferior to men's because they were an inverted version of the ideal.)  The first publication to contain both text and illustration of male and female skeletons was the Traité d’ostéologie published in 1759 with illustrations by Marie d'Arconville.

Marie Genevieve Charlotte Thiroux d'Arconville

D'Arconville chose to incorrectly represent the female skull as smaller in proportion to the body, as well as drawing broader hips and a narrower ribcage, perhaps reflecting the use of tight corsets during this period. Later, in 1796, a German anatomist called Samuel von Soemmerring also published illustrations of a female skeleton, but his were quite different to d'Arconville's, particularly with reference to the ribcage. In fact his work was criticised for not showing a narrower ribcage - not for scientific reasons, but for cultural ones: 'women's rib cage is much smaller than that shown by Soemmerring, because it is well known that women's restricted life style requires that they breathe less vigorously'.


Soemmerring's illustration showing the effects of corsets, 1785

Through these new medical illustrations of male and female skeletons however, men were now able for the first time to see internal differences between the genders, and it is interesting to see how they used this knowledge to further solidify their gender bias. Women's larger pelvis' were seen as 'proof' that women were naturally bound for motherhood and domesticity, unlike men who were clearly not, and this scientific knowledge complemented the increasing nostalgia for the role of motherhood that developed during the nineteenth century, reflected in art and literature. Likewise it was thought that the reason women and children had proportionately larger heads than men was simply because their skulls lacked the complete evolutionary growth of men's. This psuedo-science of craniology was also applied to Africans and Aborigines in an attempt to justify their subjugation by white men.



Skeletons by John Barclay, 1820

To conclude, by discovering differences in men and women's bodies in the later eighteenth century, anatomists sought to understand why women were culturally different, but without taking culture into account. Morality and gender, physicality and character, all were combined in 'scientific' understanding. This can be summed up by a doctor called J. J. Sachs who stated in 1830:

The male body expresses positive strength, sharpening male understanding and independence, and equipping men for life in the State, in the arts and sciences. The female body expresses womanly softness and feeling. The roomy pelvis determines women for motherhood. The weak, soft members and delicate skin are witness of women's narrower sphere of activity, of home-bodiness, and peaceful family life. 

Taking a stroll in Vauxhall Gardens

Vauxhall Gardens first made its appearance as Spring Gardens back in 1661 and was developed into its heyday by the manager Johnathan Tyers and his son in the eighteenth century.

 You traditionally arrived by boat, paid your shilling entrance fee, then entered into a magical world of illumination and excitement. It was seen as a rite of passage and young people pined for the day that they could tell their friends they had been to Vauxhall. It was the one place where some rules were discarded and you could talk to strangers. You could buy rack punch and stroll in the 'dark walks' where men and women could meet without being seen. For the more respectable you could buy supper, listen to music and promendade, allowing yourself to see and be seen, leaving before things got too raucous. The aristocracy and nobility rubbed shoulders with the middle classes, who were aspiring to a better standard of life through politeness and elegance. In short, anyone who was anyone had to go.

Vauxhall by Rowlandson, c1784

Vauxhall was indeed a special garden, in that the twelve acre site enclosed avenues of trees, birdsong, a variety of walks and a cascade of water. However this was a garden like no other - here you were not hindered by mud or manure. Here was nature purposefully romantisiced into a rural idyll, full of images of pastoral nymphs and songs of happy swains. It was like real nature, only better.

It must have been quite a sight. This was a time before street lighting and where you could not socialise outside after dark. Outdoor urban activity in the hours between sunset and sunrise were limited to prostitutes, students and thieves. Yet Vauxhall was only open on summer evenings and so offered the chance to chat to friends and strangers after sunset under the magnificent illumination of hundreds of lamps. Vauxhall truely colonised the night.

The Grand Orchestra, 1803

Music and art were important features of Vauxhall. Rather than hearing entire operas, here the most catchy arias and popular ballads were sung and the sheet music could be then purchased so you could play the Vauxhall songs at home, making the experience and memories last even longer. Love songs and patriotic arias were particularly popular. In addition, quaint pastoral paintings by Francis Hayman adorned the supper boxes and a statue of Handel was displayed, being the first public statue of a living composer. The performance of vocal and instrumental music was also crucial to keeping the atmosphere cultured and refined.

In all, a visit to Vauxhall would have been truely an impressive experience in Georgian London.

Enjoying the music at Vauxhall, 1821

The East in blue and white

The Far East remained mysterious and unknown throughout the eighteenth century, viewed as a distant land of wealth and splendor. Even with the busy trade of the East India Company, Europeans were forbidden to wander farther than the city walls of the only Chinese trading port, Canton. This literal distance and lack of knowledge of the East led to the creation of an exotic and fanciful interpretation of what countries like China and India really were like.

This fascination for the East led to the artistic term chinoiserie which refers to architecture or decorative arts created in the West but with a stylised Oriental theme. Popular blue and white porcelain is a clear example of this.

Originally all porcelain was imported from China through a monopoly held by the East India Company. In fact, in the 1777/8 season the East India Company imported 348 tons of Chinese porcelain! This was then sold to dealers wholesale at huge auctions, before being displayed in their individual shops.

East India House in Leadenhall Street, London, by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, c1817

Chinese porcelain was made using a substance called kaolin and hand-painted in China using designs solely for the export market. In fact, specific requests were made by the East India Company for suitably West-friendly exotic designs and shapes. Meanwhile potters in Europe tried but couldn't work out what the mysterious ingredients were that the Chinese used in order to create this mystical substance themselves.

Finally, after much experimentation across Europe, the production of hard-paste porcelain (i.e. like Chinese porcelain) developed, the Meissen factory being one of the first. (Funnily enough, the man who made this amazing discovery was a chemist at Wittenberg University called Johann Boettger who had initally been given the impossible task of trying to change base metals into gold.) In Britain, the first potters to make porcelain focussed on copying Chinese designs, which had been popular with shoppers for decades. Interestingly, the development of home-made porcelain took off at the end of the century, co-inciding with the dramatic decision of the East India Company to stop importing Chinese porcelain.



Plate showing The Two Temples, by Miles Mason, c1805
held at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Technological developments meant that, unlike Chinese porcelain which was hand-painted, British items could be mass produced. Indeed, it was in the second half of the eighteenth century that patents were taken out for transfer-printing, starting a revolutionary and labour-saving process in ceramic production. Now Chinese images could be printed easily onto porcelain, using designs engraved into copper plates. These copper plates could be sold to many factories meaning that different potters were creating products depicting identical images. Possibly the most famous image is the Willow pattern, created in England, for British consumers, and based on an original Chinese design. The charming story behind the picture however is likely to have been invented as a clever marketing tool.


The famous Willow pattern

Into the nineteenth century, developments in transfer printing led to the use of other colours, and we start to see other exotic elements coming through, including Indian scenes.

Plate depicting Wild Sports of the East, by Spode, c1815
held at the Victoria & Albert Musuem

Making music at home

Before television and radio a family's home entertainment system was naturally rather more home-made in nature. It was most common for young girls to be trained in music, particularly the piano, and then it was believed girls could not only amuse and soothe the weary souls of their fathers and brothers, but also learn about their domestic responsibilities, such as duty and home-making.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries boys were not pushed into music in quite the same way, it being seen primarily as suited to a woman's warmer, emotional nature. The involvement of the men was more to do with one-off expensive purchases, such as that of the piano itself, and this gesture was limited to fathers and husbands (or husbands-to-be, hence the gossiping and eyebrow-raising that the gift of the piano caused in Jane Austen's Emma). Men were expected to be connoisseurs in music - to be able to recognise good from bad - but in the home, it was the role of the women to play.

Women sung a broad range of music from popular ballads to Italian opera arias, as well as playing piano pieces which needed no singing. Sadly it could often be the fate of the girl most gifted at the piano to have to play when there was a dance at home, meaning she was unable to join in the dancing herself. If a girl's family were able to afford the most expensive singing masters, as in the case of aristocratic families, girls would be expected to sing and play complex pieces, otherwise the reserve of the professional musician.

'Farmer Giles and his wife showing off their daughter Betty to their Neighbours on her return from school' by James Gillray, 1809

Women could purchase and collect single sheets of music, which they could buy directly from London or from regional music shops, and they could then bind them to make their own personal music books, annotating them with their own particular embellishments in pencil. Girls and women shared music they liked with each other, by copying pieces out and giving them to friends, which was an important part of female social bonding. Just as now, some girls resented their rigorous training while others found solace in their music. Either way, girls were expected to have some proficiency at music - it was seen as an important female accomplishment and sign of taste. Some contemporaries even noted it as an important strategic way to ensnare a husband as the following two quotes attest:

"Every well-bred girl, whether she has talent or not, must learn to play the piano or sing; first of all it's fashionable; secondly, it's the most convenient way for her to put herself forward in society and thereby, if she is lucky, make an advantageous matrimonial alliance, particularly a moneyed one". (Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 1800)

"Miss and her sisters sit down by turns, and screw themselves up to Ah vous dirai, or 'I'd be a butterfly' - till some handsome young fellow who has stood behind her chair for six months, turned over her music, or accompanied her through a few liquorish airs, vows his tender passion...and at length swears to be her accompaniment through life". (Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction, 1828)

For further information, see http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/jane-austen-and-music/ or read '"Girling" at the Parlour Piano' by Ruth Solie from Music in Other Words: Victorian Conversations

The Three Georges

Who were the Georgian kings and what did their reigns really mean to the British public?

After Queen Anne died without issue in 1714 the kingship passed to the House of Hanover via the most senior Protestant descendant of James I, Georg Ludwig. There were others with a closer blood link to James I however the Act of Settlement of 1701 made it impossible for Roman Catholics to take the throne. Therefore in 1714 Georg Ludwig of Hanover became king of Great Britain at the age of 54 and on his death in 1727, his son became king George II (aged 44).

Kings George I and II
Kings George I and II filled an important role for the British. Although they remained distant and different in their German ways to the British public, most were happy that Protestants were ruling the kingdom as opposed to the Catholic son of James II, James Stuart (The Old Pretender). There were some Jacobite uprisings and support in the early eighteenth century by those who felt the throne rightfully belonged to James Stuart however popularity was short-lived and never wide-spread enough to allow full military or financial support.


George I and II were both German born and arrived at the British throne as middle-aged men. This and a variety of other reasons meant that their personalities remained distant from the British public. One reason was that there was little propaganda or royal reporting of them, and little public ceremony which only served to make them seem aloof from the British public. In addition, they never travelled to some parts of the country during their reigns, creating a lack of visibility across the country. Furthermore, their fear of Jacobite sympathy within the Tory party meant they favoured the Whig party, and this favouritism naturally distanced some and meant they could not be seen as neutral British figureheads.

King George II painted by Thomas Hudson (1744)

Receiving insufficient money from Parliament they could barely afford their lifestyles (once they had used this money to pay the salaries of courtiers and ministers etc), meaning they were unable to lavish sums on one symbolic royal palace or residence like Louis XIV had done at Versailles. This had the impact of there being a relatively small royal court and rather than court defining good taste and fashion and being leaders in culture, instead Kensington Palace, Hampton Court and St James' were merely cultural venues among many others in London. Polite culture was being formed by opera houses, pleasure gardens, and magnificent artistocratic town houses more than it was by the royal circle.

King George III
George III however gradually washed that aloof public image away and by the end of his reign he was deeply mourned. He ascended the throne at just 22 in 1760 and had the benefit of being born and growing up in England.


George III was much better at what we would now call PR and ensured paintings of himself were distributed. His sons travelled the length and bredth of the kingdom, making royalty visible and he himself engaged in active ceremonial display. The public finally had a king they could recognise and see. Celebrations such as the Jubilee of 1809 were popularly attended by all classses of society, and towns competed with each other for the best celebrations. In fact it was during his reign that the song 'God Save The King' was increasingly sung and became popularly known as the national anthem. The increase in the press and transport developments such as the turnpike roads led to increased propaganda and royal reporting.

1809 Jubilee celebrations for King George III at Berkshire Record Office (D/EX225/Z4)

 Additional Parliamentary funds enabled him to invest in public splendour and he renovated many of the royal palaces, while as his eldest son lavished sums onto Brighton Pavilion and his London residence at Carlton House. In addition, the French Revolution created a mixture of feelings in the British; the bloodshed and brutality causing many to feel protective about their royals.


Furthermore George III's percieved political neutrality (any serious Jacobite threat had now gone) enabled him to embrace all his subjects without alienating any politically. Finally, his morality and vulnerability (due to his illness) meant that often the public looked on him as a Father of the People as well as a normal man.

By helping to bring royalty back into the limelight George III turned the tables on his forbears and paved the way for modern kingship.

King George III pained by Zoffany

Who were the Great Britons?

The Act of Union in 1707 united the England and Wales with the Scottish kingdom for the first time into the new United Kingdom of Great Britain. But how united were the British and who were they?


One important factor that united the new Britons was a sense of shared religion. Unlike most of Europe, the new kingdom was Protestant. Anti-Catholic sentiment was rife and the British prided themselves on their freedom from 'Popish tyranny'. It seemed that their religion was favoured by God especially, delivering them from the world's evils and giving them victory in war. In fact anti-Catholic legislation existed between the late 17th century right up until 1829, banning Catholics from parliament and state offices. It could be said that British Catholics were even seen as unpatriotic and hence 'un-British'. Much anti-Catholic literature was published, from popular almanacs to highly subjective histories. In 1780 the Gordon Riots erupted in London, in which anti-Catholic protesters rioted due to the proposed repeal of Catholic discrimination. The author Frances Burney was in London at the time and her family home was only spared by her father shouting out anti-Pope slogans. Protestantism joined the nation together, making it very different from the Continent, linking the people together in a shared, Divinely protected, nation.  The lyrics of Jerusalem written by William Blake in c.1804 emphasise this sentiment.

The Gordon Riots, London, 1780

Throughout the 18th century Britain was almost constantly at war, particularly with France and Spain. There was the Nine Years War, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years War, the War of Independence and the Napoleonic War to name a few. Overall Britain had victory after victory, establishing national pride and reaffirming the widely held belief in the nation's superiority and Divine preference. In fact evidence of this blessed nation seemed to stem from the new Protestant Hanoverian kings, further proof that Britain was a truly special isle.

Similarly, the Grand Tours, which any upstanding young gentleman went on, had the result of 'proving' the supremacy of Britain over its European neighbours. Gentlemen came home from the Grand Tours sure in the knowledge that Britain was the most free, liberal and democratic country. Other countries were simply despotic, backward and corrupt. The British parliament was seen as superior, efficient and more unrestricted than other governments in Europe at the time and the author Daniel Defoe rather proudly wrote that "we are a nation of liberty".

A gentleman on the Grand Tour, painted by Pompeo Batoni

Fast urban growth and the proliferation of printed material and news also played their part in increasing a sense of unity. Likewise a rigorous success in commercial trade played a part in establishing British people's sense of their country. In 1718 in The Present State of Great Britain it was written:

"Next to the purity of our religion we are the most considerable of any nation in the world for the vastness and extensiveness of our trade". 

All these things set Britain apart and helped create a sense of national identity. However it is worth noting that Britain of course still remained a very varied nation, with different languages, cultures and customs being practiced throughout the kingdom.

For further information, read Linda Colley's book entitled 'Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837' and also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_riots 

The reading public

Remember the fears and concerns generated when the internet began? People were worried it was too vast, had no regulation and would soon be full of dross information, swamping access to correct knowledge. Those same fears were present in the early eighteenth century when the new printing boom exploded.

"the multitude of BOOKS has been long complained of: they are grown too numerous, not only to procure and read, but to see, learn the names of, or even number" [Chambers's Cyclopedia, 1738].

In the seventeenth century printed books were relatively few in number and were mainly confined to the subjects of theology, history, polemics, the classics and the Bible. Books were read with care and often scrutinised several times. Book ownership was limited to the gentry and nobility and literacy was low and restricted to their class alone. Authors could only get books published using the patronage of a wealthy individual, copyright rules were restrictive and the strict control of the press meant that all publishing took place within a few streets in the city of London.

A Book of Common Prayer, 1676

Then in 1695 the Licensing Act lapsed, effectively ending censorship (although the printing of blasphamy, obscenity and seditious libel continued to be repressed) and strict control of the press ended, allowing the printing industry to finally take off in England. Provincial printing developed for the first time and the cost of the expense could be shared between printers by splitting the copyright, or by getting individuals to subscribe in advance. The market exploded with new types of publications.


No longer were books limited to a few academic subjects. Now people could read books on any topic, from romances and poems to 'how to' manuals and even travel journals. Newspapers, magazines and periodicals blossomed and were widely read. At the same time literacy rates rose and all classes finally gained access to literature. Books could either be bought or borrowed, either from circulating libraries, books clubs, coffee houses or neighbours. The 'gentile' practice of reading aloud was a desirable attribute, and families and friends read aloud to one another. Women working at chores at home, such as sewing or preserving fruit could be read to by another woman, thus making domestic chores more interesting, while disseminating knowledge. It was seen as "a specimen of English freedom" that everyone now participated in reading, as Thomas Campbell wrote in 1773 of the Chapter Coffee House in London (where you could pay a shilling for the right of one year's reading there):

"A whitesmith in his apron & some of his saws under his arm, came in, sat down and called for his glass of punch and the paper, both of which he used with as much ease as a Lord".

The Coffee House by Rita Greer, history painter, 2008

Authors, although generally badly paid, had more freedom and were no longer at the mercy of finding a high status patron - the patron now was the reading public. Authors could be anyone, including women, and publish articles and reviews in cheap magazines as well as books. Simultaneously hack journalism developed and chapbooks and abbreviated novels were widely sold by itinerant pedlars. Although books and publications could still be attentively and regularly read, they were more likely to be borrowed, skim-read and returned, rather than laboriously scrutinised as in the previous centuries. Light reading for amusement took off as a past-time. This in itself was initally seen as a worrying development. Some critics were concerned that light readers, especially women, could be corrupted and led astray by extensive reading of frivolous literature.

Tales of Wonder! by James Gillray, 1802, satirising the trend for Gothic novels

A contemporary, James Beattie (1735-1803), warned young women against novels:

"A habit of reading them breeds dislike to history, and all the substantial parts of knowledge; withdraws the attention from nature, and truth; and fills the mind with extravagant thoughts, and too often with criminal propensities".

In practice however men were just as likely as women to read the "swarms of insipid Novels, destitute of sentiment, language, or morals" [as noted in the New and Elegant Amusements for the Ladies of Great Britain published in 1772] and the reading public has never looked back. Contemporary criticisms that the classics were being swamped admist the burgeoning trashy novel and magazine slowly lost emphasis as the printing industry ballooned, and thankfully today, we can continue to enjoy an enormous range of publications, trashy or instructive.

For further information on London coffee houses and their role in stimulating literacy, see http://www.buildinghistory.org/primary/inns/coffee-houses.shtml.